Monday 22 November 2010 - The Ministry
of Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries and Forestry says its EC$26 million dollar
assistance package for farmers who incurred losses from the passage of
hurricane Tomas and the recent inclement weather is critical especially
because of the importance of agriculture to the local economy.

Agriculture Minister Honourable Ezekiel
Joseph says the relief package will also benefit fishers who were also
negatively impacted. In some instances fishers lost their boats, fish pots
and other equipment.

"We are going to assist our fishers
to fix their engines and boats and to replace a lot of the equipment that
they lost during the hurricane. Aqua culture farmers who also experienced
the negative impact will be given support with regards to cleaning and
restocking their respective ponds".

The EC$26 million dollar assistance package
is earmarked to benefit all the agriculture sub sectors. The Agriculture
Minister says this includes Poultry and Vegetable farmers who were also
adversely affected.

"The livestock and vegetable sectors
will be given a lot of support. In the case of the vegetable sector, we
are going to give affected farmers seedlings, inputs and support with land
preparation. This is why we have assigned one tractor for the north and
one for the southern region but that has to be properly coordinated so
we are asking interested farmers to contact the extension officers so that
the programme can be well coordinated and properly synchronised".

The Ministry of Agriculture's $EC26 million
dollar assistance package has received the support of Finance Minister,
Honourable Stephenson King.

The first phase of the assistance programme
has already taken effect and will run until December 31, 2010.